In the field of food processing, it is known to grind grain, such as corn, into flour, which may then be made into dough to produce end products such as taco shells, tortillas, fritos, chips, etc. In this connection, reference is made to the following U.S. Pat. Nos.: Villegas 1,262,144; deLara 1,268,860; Garza 1,334,366; Lloyd et al 2,584,893; de Sollano et al 2,704,257; Eytinge 3,194,664; Madrazo et al Re. 26,263; Gonzalez et al 3,369,908; Longenecker et al 3,773,520; and Longenecker et al 3,985,070. The prior art methods and apparatus for making such flour and dough typically have involved the cooking of grain under controlled conditions so as to render it susceptible to milling. As such, relatively large amounts of water and long cooking times were utilized because of the difficulties attendent rendering the grain into suitable physical condition for further processing. The necessity of having to use such large amounts of water results in undesirable inefficiencies in the grinding process and raised costs for water removal, as well as a loss of valuable solids in the cooking water. Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a means for rendering grain, such as corn, into flour and/or dough, under processing conditions involving reduced amounts of water, and a shortened processing time.
It is a further object of this invention to provide such means wherein such grain may be so processed directly in the form of the desired end product.